X-Men: Dark Phoenix Review

The “Dark Phoenix” storyline is one of the most famous in comic book history – let alone within the X-Men series. X-Men: Dark Phoenix is a second attempt at adapting the storyline and closes 20th Century Fox’s movie series.

The world for mutant kind has changed the events of X-Men: Apocalypse. The X-Men are hailed as heroes and Charles Xavier (James McAvoy) even has a direct line to the President of the United States. The X-Men are asked to save NASA astronauts after their mission hits disaster. During the rescue Jean Grey (Sophie Turner) miraculously survives – becoming even more powerful – but also awakes a load of repressed memories. A group of shapeshifting aliens led by Vuk (Jessica Chastain) plans to take advantage of Jean’s fragile state and use her in their plans against Earth.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix has been getting a kicking by critics. It has amassed a paltry 22% on Rotten Tomatoes and only a 6.0 rating on IMDB at the time of writing. These stats would imply that X-Men: Dark Phoenix is going to be one of the worst superhero films ever made. But it is not the worst the X-Men film – and it has been harshly treated by some critics.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix was a troubled production which helps to set the bar low. There were reports that the test screenings were a disaster – being compared negatively to X-Men: The Last Stand and the third act had to be reshot. Nor did the marketing helped due to the trailers spoiling the death of a character. But there has been some historical revisionist where some claim the X-Men films were always bad – ignoring X-Men: Days of Future Past, Deadpool, and Logan were made in the last five years. Plus MCU fanboys just want the X-Men as a part of that series.

One of the best features of the prequel is the majority of the casting. And most of the actors are as professional as ever. McAvoy and Michael Fassbender were fantastic as Xavier and Magneto in the previous films and McAvoy does have big arc because he has to face up to his actions where he suppressed Jean’s memory. It’s a plot point recycled from X-Men: The Last Stand but it was better implicated in Dark Phoenix because Xavier’s reasoning was kinder than in the 2006 film and the relationship between Xavier and Jean was more like a father and daughter.

Sophie Turner has been an incredibly wooden actress. She has failed to impress outside of Game of Thrones. But she does give a better performance than in her previous film roles. Turner had a lot to work with due to Jean’s delicate mental state – as she’s trying to control her powers. Turner knew she needed to give a strong performance to strengthen her post-Game of Thrones career.

The performances by Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain left a lot to be desired. Lawrence has checked out from these films a long time ago and her performances were half-arsed. Chastain is a talented actress and her character was meant to be a cold, emotionless, and remorseless alien but her performance came across as stilted.

X-Men: Dark Phoenix could be comparable to the 2015 version of Fantastic Four, another troubled superhero from Fox. Fortunately for Dark Phoenix it was much better than Fantastic Four. Dark Phoenix did not seem as compromised as Fantastic Four which had a time jump and reshoots were apparent. The special effects were of a higher standard and the effects for the space rescue could rival any other blockbuster.

The action is on a smaller scale compared to previous X-Men films, despite this being a story featuring aliens and a being with the powers of a god. The big mutant fight between the X-Men and the Brotherhood only took place on one street and the finale takes place on a train instead of a space battle. But it serves the purpose and there was a flow to the action – especially how the camera followed some of the fights.

The film adaptation of The Phoenix Saga does take a lot of liberties. The biggest is the characterisation of Jean. In the comics The Phoenix becomes uncontrollable – leading to her destroying a star and killing a whole planet. The film version shows her being a more tortured figure who wants to hide away and has to deal with her enhancing powers. The one death she causes was inadvertent. The Phoenix in The Last Stand was an all-powerful being that did go power mad.

Other changes had to be made because of events in the previous films. The D’Bari aliens basically take the place of the Hellfire Club who were already used and killed off in previous entries and their plan to use the Phoenix for their own devices – because trying to control a being with God-like powers is bound to work. In the ’90s cartoon adaptation of the storyline had a whole episode the X-Men battling the Hellfire Club to try and save Jean – the film version last less than 10 minutes.

Simon Kinberg makes his directional debut having written the previous two X-Men movies and the hated The Last Stand. Despite his involvement with the previous films he forgets the series continuity. Jean Grey gets the Phoenix Force which gives her the extra powers even though at the end of Apocalypse her Phoenix powers were awakened. In the film Magneto was given land by the American government – despite the fact he was accused of killing JFK and he made a public threat to humanity by dumping a stadium around the White House.  As much as I love Magneto as a character his appearance in Dark Phoenix was really unnecessary and it wouldn’t be surprising if the MCU avoid using him in their first film.

Some of the bad buzz from the test screenings was due to Kinberg recycling plot points from The Last Stand. There is some justification to this because in the first act there is a prologue where Jean uses her powers as a child, Jean going back to her family home, and the death of an important character at the end of that visit.

I did find it quite assuming that the government soldiers used to capture mutants had insignia saying ‘MCU.’

As a send-off to the X-Men movie franchise Dark Phoenix is lacklustre – yet on its own merits it’s a passable superhero film.